The Plaintiff, a 45 year old ironworker, was injured when he had to climb from a ladder over a perimeter cable to access his work area and slipped and fell on slippery decking. The Plaintiff argued that the placement of the ladder clearly violated OSHA regulations. The Defendants were the general contractor and the subcontractor who was responsible for building and placing ladders on the jobsite.

The Plaintiff alleged that the general contractor failed to properly coordinate the work on the jobsite, which included determining the final placement of the gang ladder so that the perimeter cable could be cut.

The Plaintiff suffered injuries to both knees. He reported the injury, but did not seek medical attention for six weeks. The Plaintiff had suffered injury to his left knee and underwent arthroscopic surgery seven years prior to the subject accident. Following the subject accident the Plaintiff had bilateral knee pain. His right knee was as painful as his left, and that had always been his stronger knee. As a result of the subject accident the Plaintiff underwent surgery on both knees and eventually had a total left knee replacement.

Defendants claimed that they were not negligent and relied on the fact that the Plaintiff’s employer was the entity responsible for cutting the perimeter cable. Defendants further highlighted the fact that the ironworkers themselves had placed the ladder in the position it was in at the time of the Plaintiff’s accident. Specifically the Defendants claimed that the Plaintiff had 24 years experience as an iron worker and should have taken steps to ensure the ladder set up was safe before proceeding to work on that level.

The case ultimately settled for $300,000 with the workers’ compensation carrier agreeing to a full waiver of its lien which totaled $116,902.